The day started with waiting at the scale house for an hour on paperwork.  I was the only driver in there for at least 30 minutes.  

After that, I was driving past Diboll, Texas and saw up in the distance the lights flashing.  That means they are pulling trucks in and doing random inspections - a couple of trucks will get stopped, everyone else will be let through and they turn the lights off.  

Getting up to it and about to turn in, I saw 3 trucks blast by it.  I thought for sure the troopers would go chase them down - it's quite illegal to do that and you can get a hefty fine.  Instead of chasing them down, they pulled me in the scale and then - we're doing level 1 inspections today.

Great, pick me with all of these junky trucks going through here.  This ordeal ended up taking up almost 6 hours.  That's not a typo, 6 solid hours by the time everything was said and done.

This dude got under the truck and the trailer with a creeper checking brakes and everything under there.  He also found a nick in the side of one of the trailer tires that I hadn't seen when I had done my pre-trip inspection.  Yes, I had a flashlight but the nick was so small it was hard to see it in the daylight. "Well I can see the tire cord in there so this tire is going to have to be replaced" - or something akin to that.  

In the end, he gave me a CVSA sticker for the tractor - which is a very good thing, it signals the truck has been thoroughly inspected and other troopers will likely not pull you in for another inspection - but he put the trailer out of service.

Getting put out of service is a very bad thing and I haven't had that done to me since 1985.  Back then it wasn't even that big of a deal since there were no CDL's and there wasn't a nationwide data system.  The damage to that tire would have been done by a previous driver - it was obviously someone turning the truck and cranking that tire up against a curb. Instead of inspecting the damage and having the tire replaced, they just - hoped someone else would get dumped with it I am guessing, it happens all the time and that's why I try to thoroughly inspect tires before I hook up to a any given trailer.  

Now, the trooper said I had to have the tire replaced. It was sooooo incredibly dangerous? That he had me drive the truck to the next town to wait in a truck stop versus waiting there, at the inspection station. I wanted to just get it done at the inspection station, he said no, it can be done down the road.  To want me to continue on driving the truck means there is no way he should have put that truck out of service.  It's my company I was thinking of.  They will not like an OOS violation and they may even can me for it.  I had no idea what they were going to do, but as I have said numerous times on this blog, there is no job security at my company and I am always prepared for the worst, mentally if nothing else. 

Sitting at the truck stop, it took 4-1/2 hours by the time the new tire was put on there and I could leave. A 2 day trip turned into 3, although I got back early today, I only had 242 miles to go this morning.

Upon arriving at the terminal, I saw that my manager was in. He almost never comes on Fridays, I suspected he would be handing me a reprimand at the very least, and I would be rejecting it just the same.  Whoever that other driver was that pulled it before me? Should be getting the reprimand. I was going to flat refuse it, the best I would agree to is partial responsibility - you as the driver of the truck are always blamed for everything regardless.  

So I went in the office, did my paperwork and very loudly told the mechanics - whose office is across from the manager's office - about what happened and why it happened.  My manager had his door shut but cracked open enough that I could both see him in there and figured he could hear everything I was saying.  If he wanted to call me into his office, he certainly could have done so.  He did not.  I took my time leaving there, if there is going to be a bit***** session, I want it over with, today, not lingering forever.  If it's the end of my job, so beit, but let's do this now.  I can find another job if I have to.  I don't want to, but shrugs.  

At the same time, I wasn't going to go in his office and ask for it.  That's going to be on him to call me in there.  Because if he was going to start with me, I would have let him know in no uncertain terms about my feelings of other drivers not doing pre or post trip inspections and not reporting obvious problems.  This happens frequently, I have reported it a few times, they all know about it yet they do nothing about it.  

I missed detention pay in Brownsville because of that nonsense as well.  I left the office in no huge hurry, heard nothing from the manager....and left.  I left the violation ticket in  his mailbox, he has to see it and it has to be signed off on.

Now? I'm home, relaxing and hoping not to have a run tomorrow. I will probably get one, I just don't want one. The reason being it's the oldest boy's birthday tomorrow and he was greatly hoping I would be home for it.  Those are his words lol.  I also need to finish marking trees and I can tell ya, I just don't have it in me to do any of that today. I just want to sit in my room and vegetate.  I've probably got 2 more hours left to go out there.  Finish the other side along where the driveway will be and walk the perimeter one last time to ensure I have everything marked that I want marked.  

Yes it needs to happen, but again, my motivation levels after this trip are all but gone.  Maybe in a few hours I'll get the umph I need to go out there and get all cut up and tolerate trees with spikes and thorns sticking out of them and vines that do nothing more than stick your skin.  I can't wait until that front portion of the property is CLEARED and I don't have to deal with that s*** anymore.  

I'm going to take close up shots of everything that has spikes and thorns out there and post them on Facebook. It is 5 different plants/trees that I can think of that will stick you.  And good. 

Meanwhile, the loan. The endless parade of documents they want. Now they want a - calculator that the insurance company will come up with to determine replacement cost of the house.  They don't think the current amount I have on there is enough.  I can tell ya that it's far more than enough to replace the house - with everything that would be required such as removing the old house (if it burned down I guess), having the new one hauled over there and installed.  I understand the lender wanting this info, tho, it's just another pain to deal with. 

So far, I've made 3 phone calls to the insurance company to try and get that number. So far? NOTHING.

I have also not heard back from the contractor about his intended start date. I hope it's not this coming week, that would give me more time to double check everything.  I barren, 1,400 long strip of land is not all that appealing to me.  I am also going to have a speed limit sign put on the driveway-  these oil/gas people are flying up and down that road and I have contacted 2 out of 3 so far. The main operator hasn't returned my email - that was 2 days ago. So the sign is going to say 10mph and violators will be trespassed from the property. That will get their attention.....

Anyway, I am being asked if I want to join Taylor and james for lunch, I'm outta here.

G'day. 

 Well. Starting day 2 in Brownsville in a bit.  Turns out there will be no empty trailers coming across the border today. It's 2022 and it's also Sunday. Meaning? They can't get trucks across the border because they have to have a sticker that allows border crossings.  I dunno if these stickers are available before hand, one would think so. Whatever the case, they have to wait until tomorrow morning to get them and be able to bring the empties across.  

This was news to both the dispatcher - of course - and to the man that runs transportation in Alta Mira.  Ok?  George runs the Brownsville operation, whatever he says, you can rest assured it's the actual truth contrasted to whatever everyone else is saying.  It's his trucks that bring these empties across the border, of course he will know if they are coming or not.  Just that George isn't always available.  Or even there. But, of all days, Sunday, not only was he there, he was changing out tires on a trailer!  Imagine that, the owner's son, who happens to run the place, humble enough to do whatever it takes to keep the operation running.  

I don't encounter too many people like that anymore.  Most would call someone out of their day off to deal with it.  It's pretty cool, really.  

When I found this out, I immediately looked on the phone for hotels... and namely the one I'm at now.  Marriott Residence Inn.  It was listed at $127, but I called them and they said they had a room for $109.  Yes!  My dispatcher wasn't on board.  I didn't say anything about the hotel, she just can't believe this dude in Alta Mira wasn't giving her correct info.  

Whatever!  She came on board when I explained about trucks not being able to cross the border until a decal inspection can be done, and that won't happen until tomorrow morning!  I don't care, I will gladly spend the night in my beautiful, comfortable, serene, peaceful hotel room, take the money and run.  When the yard boss says the trailers will be here in the morning, believe they will be here - some time - in the morning.  Anytime before noon means I'm home tomorrow night, hopefully off the next day and try to get this tree saving business done and over with.  

____________________________

Day 3, 10:00 am, was just informed trailers are being inspected and allowed to cross the border, so allegedly any time now. But, when they say "soon", that could be many, many hours.  Especially if there is a backlog of trucks waiting to get their decals inspected/authorized.  I would like to get out of here soon, tho so I can make it home tonight.  Unfortunately, there is another driver that is ahead of me, so whatever comes in first, he gets.  

I frankly wish I were at the house, I am motivated right now and could easily spend the day out there measuring and marking the rest of the trees.  

I read in these RV parks for sale groups of people that buy existing RV parks and they are "killing it" - everything is already done, set up for them, they just have to get the financing.  Of course, they are spending a million plus dollars on it, but still, I'm a wee bit jealous lol.  All this stuff I am going through just to even get the beginning phases of construction going!  Just calm down, Ben , patience and keep the vision alive.  Yes, the vision.  Retirement is "just around the corner" and the end of trucking as we know it isn't that far off, either.  That's what motivates me more than anything.

Honestly, running a park would BE like retirement for me.  No more dealing with nanny-state trucking companies. No more dealing with endless idiots on the road with no more common sense than a dead cow.  No more dealing with invasive and ridiculous DOT rules and regulations. No more electronic logs, getting up at 3:45 am to load, etc etc etc.  

And since I'm - hopefully - going to have far more money than I originally anticipated, I'm going to ask the contractor to please give me a quote for more lots.  Like 20 instead of 14.  That's 6 extra lots, probably add 20 grand, it is what it is.  It would be a better start with more lots and potentially more income.  It's just a thought that entered my mind - but - there is a lot of other stuff I have to pay for beyond lots so I'll just have to wait and see how this all pans out.

Wait, the contractor said the week of the 10th or the 17th. If I can just get a full day off, I can hopefully get all the rest of that done and over with!  I just asked for a day off if it can be slipped in somewhere, I usually get one anyway without asking, but I really need to make sure it happens.  If it doesn't I'm going to have to ask the contractor to please not come until the 17th.

Good grief. I could have sat in the hotel room if I had known they weren't going to show up until late, lol.

G'day

 I don't tend to write too often when there isn't much to write about and at the moment, that's still pretty much true.

I'm back in Brownsville, the same as last writing lol.  No trailers here today, I didn't expect any because of the Holiday.  The dispatcher can't understand why they can't keep up with empties, after her being our new dispatcher for several months and people endlessly explaining this to her, you'd think she would get a clue.

But she doesn't and oh well, she isn't going to change their mentality down here, they do as they please and they pay enough money for that privilege.  She said the "customer isn't always right".  When they're handing our company millions of dollars per year in transportation payments, I would take exception to that statement.  And anyway, most of us don't care about waiting, we get paid for it and so does our company.  

We get these new dispatchers and it takes quite a while for them to catch on - and then they get fired or leave on their own.  It gets old having to deal with these people - she's nice tho, I just got off the phone we had a nice conversation that went well off the trucking topic.  I've explained to her several times that most drivers like the wait time pay and therefore don't mind waiting.  She doesn't understand that either.  What's there not to understand? We sit around playing on the internet or doing nothing, taking naps, seeing local sights, going to restaurants, get paid for it and make as much as a full day's worth of driving....and you can't understand that?  

So it is.  She is trying to reinvent the wheel down here - literally trying to force this company to get on a schedule and stay on it, but the dude that runs the transportation portion of the company we haul the product for has a completely different mindset and when he doesn't have an answer or just plain doesn't want to answer, he just doesn't respond to her lmao.  I've been around Mexicans a good part of my life, I know how they think. I'm not saying it's inferior or anything like that, it's just different.  If you set an event to start at 2:00 pm, you're really setting it to start at 4:00. If you can't deal with that, you are going to be a very frustrated person lol.

I have done nothing at the property and I am running up against a deadline.  The angle of the one side has to be redone to angle the opposite direction and then re-mark all of those trees.  I still haven't done the other side. Most of the perimeter is done tho, at least.  I have been over there, but just for walks. Took the boys 3 times during their 2 week vacation from school.  I didn't feel like doing anything during the holidays, that's on me I guess.  I'll ask for a day off if I have to, I really don't know when this dude is coming. He said the 7th or the 17th.  Okkkkk, lol, I'm going to ask him to hold off until the 17th.  I dunno if I'll get home today - it's still early enough but there is a chance that no empties are going to come.  I need at least a full day off to get that done. I'll just go out there and stay out there until everything is marked.  I just wouldn't be happy if I didn't keep at least a few trees up per lot.  

Per the loan. I really dislike this guy that's handling the loan and paperwork. He has very little customer service skills and it gets old.  He initially told me that short list of things he sent me that I had to sent back for proof of this and that was it, there would be no more. Since then, of course, it's been a constant stream of it and I'm just about done with it.  I thought I actually was  done with it, but no, more and more.  Now they want a foundation certification and said there should be one with my original loan since it's FHA and a manufactured home, it's required.  

Then, he said he has a person that will do it for $300.  The next day, he came back and said they'd do it for $450.  I flatly responded to him that I had already shelled out $500 for the appraisal and that I wasn't interested in spending any more money on this deal, I would call the current mortgage company and see if I can get it from them - for free.  I made it crystal clear that I wasn't paying anything else for any of this, if they want to spend the money and get some stake in the game, feel free.

I didn't get a response from him on the texting, instead I got another "we have more things for you to do", an email that I didn't bother to open. If they want to ask me for something, they can call me or text me, I'm through with the email games as well. My mortgage company told me on Friday they had the cert and would send it by the end of business day - which they did not. And they weren't opened yesterday because of the New Year, so I will call them tomorrow (it's Sunday) and ask them to please send it right away.  I DO want the loan, but I'm very much tired of the paperwork stuff and it needs to end.  I can't even imagine trying to get an SBA loan, that would be far more complicated and far more info they want to qualify for one.  

Right now? No thanks. Maybe down the line after I get the business up and running, I can apply for one and do some major upgrades to the park.  But, I have received another large sum of money - free - from "someone", not going to mention the person or the relationship on here, that has substantially altered the situation for me. I could put all the infrastructure in now plus by one of those portable buildings and not have to get a loan at all. I was not in that position before that money was given to me. Yes, I would still need the house cash-out to do other stuff, but the park would be usable at least.  

But I don't want bare bones minimum, I have discussed this in other posts.  The quality of reviews you get directly corresponds to the amenities you give and other major factors, such as angled lots, pull through lots and level lots.  I've read numerous - and I mean lots - of people that will go to an RV park's website, look for the park map and see how it's set up. If the lots aren't angled they won't look at anything else, they go looking for somewhere else to park.  And then the kicker where the guy said "and they should be driver's side angled". I really had to kick myself for not thinking of that.  When I go to park in a truck stop, I always back in the driver's side, blind side backing into a lot is difficult at best and tho I've done it, I don't like to do it. You really have to get out of the vehicle multiple times to ensure you aren't about to smash the truck on your passenger side. 

As I said, this operation is going to take awhile to get up and running.  I'm okay with it, but I feel the need to get it going as fast as possible so the word can get out and I can start establishing a review history.  Tu Simple - it's a company that is working very hard to get fully automated trucks on the road and probably further ahead than any of the other companies trying to do the same thing - did a test in Arizona with no human at the wheel at all.  They had to get permission from the state's DOT and apparently had lots of state troopers and personnel attending the truck.

I don't know if they alerted the public to this nonsense, I would want to know if there is a truck driving itself down the road, where it's going to be, it's intended route, the day, time etc.  I wouldn't want to be anywhere near it. The article stated it "interacted" with the motoring public. Did the motoring public know it was interacting with them?  You can tell those trucks easily - they have camera equipment mounted all over the thing.  The point is - these things are coming and they are going to take over the entire industry once they are allowed. Major companies will start converting all of their trucks over to fully automated and they will get rid of human drivers.  Our usefulness in the trucking industry is going to come to an end and I want to be fully operational before that happens. Yes, it is a concern to me, not a minor concern either.  

Just about guaranteed all major trucking companies will want to switch over. I dunno about our company, I would like to think that hazmat would be on a "wait" list to see how all of this pans out, but I'm sure our company will want a piece of that automated pie as well.  I think the nation's highways are not going to be safer, at all.  Perhaps there will be fewer truck related accidents, but the thought of being run into by something that has no human at the wheel gives a chilling effect.  The software doesn't know or care about getting hurt or killed or whether it hurts or kills anyone else. It's only as good as the people that designed it.  In other words, it's still humans that are at the heart of it and humans are fallible.  I can't stop this automated nonsense from happening, but I can definitely voice my opinion.  I'm decidedly of the thinking these trucks should be limited to Interstate highways and an extra lane each direction, sealed off with rebar-reinforced concrete dividers keeping them separated from the motoring public.  I've seen no-one else saying this, but I just about guarantee you that once these things start populating the highways all over the country, people are going to start thinking about the hazards these rigs produce and what should be done to mitigate the hazards. 

And with this defund the police garbage going on, thieves will see this as a golden opportunity to hijack entire truck loads of merchandise with nothing to stop them.  Software bandits will try to figure out a way to take over the truck's navigation systems.  Thieves will just try to crash the truck or otherwise stop it somehow and take everything that's in the truck.  Insurance companies will jack up their prices and I have to wonder the net result economically to these companies that use them, if there is any gain or if it even ends up costing more.  

I'll get off my soapbox, this particular subject gets me going.  I'm not angry about it, per se, it's just that I believe there will need to be some forced restrictions on these things coming from Congress that dictates where and how these trucks are going to operate.  And I'm preparing myself for this inevitability by starting my own business. And if this RV park venture doesn't work, I have a plan B and a plan C for that matter. Plan B would work, tho, there isn't much housing available for rent in the region.  That would be to simply install mobile homes and rent them out.  With lots at 40 feet wide, I have room to put in single wide mobiles.  

Plan C would be something of a combination of mobiles and RV lots.  There are some of those around the area as well. In fact, I talked to a waitress at Applebee's the other day, she was discussing the park she lives in has a mix of mobiles, houses and RV's.  Yup, you can do that in that county, they really don't get involved in dictating too much about what you can and cannot do.  It's a major plus and gives me alternatives if I need to go there.  I'm pretty confident this park is going to work out, tho.  There is also the option of building small houses - but that would cost substantially more money and even if I could get a loan for it, I'm really not that interested in it. I do want to do some glamping stuff tho.  That's costly as well but the nightly rates are much higher.  That would be after I get full time into it an out of trucking altogether.  I would be in earthly heaven if I could just go to work at "my" park every day and spend the days working on it - improving it, cleaning it up, etc.  

Dreams and goals. 

Meanwhile, real life. I have never seen so many trucks parked at this place.  One just pulled straight in and blocked me in here, lol.  Not that I'm going anywhere, I've heard nothing from the other driver or dispatch.  There is literally no place to park trucks and now this dude is moving his truck and blocked the entire back entrance off, lol.  Their management needs to get in here and do - something - lol.  OH, I see now, he's attempting to back out of this mess, good luck!  If they don't bring me an empty today, I'm definitely going to a hotel.  Not counting my chickens on that one, there could be empties coming up from Alta Mira and the dude from that company just not telling dispatch, that's just the way he is lol.

I'd actually like to make it home tonight and have tomorrow off - but it's not looking that way.

Anyway, I'm getting offa here and watch a movie. 

G'day.  

 Guess I haven't posted in a day or 4 lol. Merry Christmas to everyone and hopefully you had a great one at that!

There isn't too much new to report anyway. I'm currently sitting in Brownsville, Texas. I was supposed to go on a run today, but someone called and said no thanks to the load and so my dispatcher had this pleading sound in her voice when she called me on Friday asking if I would take this load on Sunday instead of the Monday run.

I uhh, said yes, not really wanting to, was looking forward to a couple of full days off. As it turns out, she had contacted other drivers who had gotten an attitude with her about it and flatly told her no.  Truckers.....some of us aren't really all that great of people, especially how we deal with others.  And more pointedly when it's something we don't want to do.  I try to stay in dispatch good graces, there is  no point in pissing them off or getting rude and nasty with them, they can make you pay for it.  

Well, anyway, I got down here yesterday evening and there wasn't any room at the old lot to park so I took the trailer over to the new lot. There were two drivers down here ahead of me, one of them just got a trailer and there is probably two more coming, I'm guessing anyway. It'll be a late start and if it's too late, I'm not committing to driving all night long. Just not going to do it, it messes me up for a couple of days and not worth it to me.  It's already noon - they just brought one of our empties over and an empty for a different type of hauling meaning that was the only empty over there. When the others will show up? Your guess is as good as mine. If two of them get here in the next hour or so, I'll make it back today. Otherwise, I'll stop in Rosenberg - probably anyway - for the night and finish out tomorrow.  Regardless, with detention pay I've already got 3 days worth of pay going for this run.  

As for the property, yes I did go there on Saturday and worked on getting more trees ribbon-ed-ized-or whatever lol.  I have the second row left to go.  That has to be measured out - the hard part because of all of the stuff in the way - and then put a few ribbons on 2 trees on every lot and that's it. Just trying to keep some of the foliage in there until other stuff can be planted and grown.  Then those trees will be cut down.  The contractor had missed my texts from a week ago and texted me this morning - it probably won't be until the middle of the month before I can get to it.

Perfect.  If I don't get a full day off here soon, I will request it.  I'll let them get through the holidays here first, they are hard up for drivers because everyone wanted time off. I didn't ask for it so yes, they are working me pretty good lol.  I got Christmas off anyway so I'm content with that.  Plus getting down here and getting wait pay - that doesn't happen that much anymore so there's a Christmas gift right there.  

The loan? No clue. It's the holidays, I'm not bothering them about it.  If they need something they have my phone/text number and my email.  I do want to get it over with soon tho, get it behind me and get it done before any new Biden mandate to force people to be vaccinated to get on domestic flights.  I will drive to Arizona if I have to.  I won't want to, but it's definitely on the table if need be.  I'll just rent a small car with much better fuel mileage - my SUV really isn't a good long distance vehicle, I don't think so anyway.  I don't drive long distances so it works for me.  It runs great but I don't think I would trust it driving 2,500 miles round trip.  It can take a rest for that if it comes down to that lol.

Christmas was fun.   Well sort of. The 4 year old was driving mommy up the wall, the 6 year old was out of character - acting out is what I would call it - but we fairly well ignored them and did our thing.

We're pretty good at ignoring children when they need to be ignored.  If they're just bored and looking for attention, yeah, they have plenty to entertain themselves with, they don't need to be constantly bugging the adults. 

I just keep reading the posts on the RV park forums for more ideas.  And I got one in the face today.  I was reading a guy's statement about a pic of a park another guy is developing. The man indicated that he should have angled back in spots (which I will have) and they should be driver's side back in.  I didn't even think about that, at all.  Blind side backing is difficult, even truckers don't like doing it.   In case you're wondering, yes, I had it set up with blind side backing in, totally escaped me while I was thinking of how t set it up.  Duhhhhh.  So that will be revised.  It shouldn't cost any more money, it's just the back in spots angled the opposite direction, the pull through sites won't change.  The dude that had posted the construction pic had a lot of experienced developers suggesting to him to angle the lots, straight in backing is not desirable and a lot of people who are looking for a place, when they see that, will just move on to another RV park.

He ignored all of the advice and that was that.  For me it was a no brainer after all the reading I had done, most people want it angled even if they are good at backing. Just makes it that much easier and less hassle. The pic included a view of a pond he apparently had built - totally dark brown and ugly.  That's what I'm afraid of happening and looking into ways to keep it from doing that.  Instead of having a stream feeding it, it would be better to have a well dug and just pump clean water into it from the ground.  Of course wells aren't cheap to dig and the pump and piping, but in the end, it may be necessary.  I need to do more research on that.  Dark water is fine, but brown, muddy looking water is not so pleasant to look at.  I don't think fish care, it's just the aesthetics.  Everything need to look good.  Everything.

And even more reading on RV parks that actually put up fencing in between the lots - and the high desirability that RV'ers have with such a setup.  It's just a chain link fence with the slats they stick through it at an angle to give privacy.  I'd rather have thick, tall bushes to do that - it takes years to grow such a setup.  I'm not sure about that one, just have to think about it.  Everything costs money and I only have a finite amount of that. Other things will take precedence, if there's enough left over then I will probably do it - at the same time a doggy park fence is put up.  

That's it, for now.  I just contacted the other driver who is in the yard over there - he said he's stuck in the back they have so many trucks in the way.  Okkkkk then, not going in there until a trailer arrives! lol.  I'm thinking it's time to go get some tacos....

G'day

 

 The appraisal was 5k below what we estimated was a good starting point.  I don't really think I"m going to bother contesting it, it is what it is, it's good enough. I'll get 86k instead of 90k.  That works. My plan was if it gave me less than 50k, I wasn't going to do it.  I won't pay off all of my credit card debt, I'll bring it down to a much more manageable level.  Some cards will be completely paid off, others will be brought down to acceptable levels and two loans - one for teeth and another for debt - will also be paid off. They have less than a grand a piece on them and it will free up $320 per month just on those two loans.

Credit card payments will come down a couple of hundred (at least) per month, so I will be doing quite well with getting debt reduced.  While I"m still working this trucking job I will simply continue paying off the cards at around $500 extra per month (on top of the minimum payments) until it is gone.  Well, sort of gone. If you don't use your cards at all, they eventually close the accounts. So, I need to get back into the habit of making purchases on the cards and then paying them off at the end of the month.  

I'm sitting at the loading plant, btw. I hadn't even gotten back from the Stryker trip yesterday and dispatch was sending me a trip for today.  I saw that and thought, this might actually be a good thing. If it's a short trip I can get back on Friday and maybe they will let me off for Christmas. 

Maybe.  There's only two places I will be able to go if I do get a Christmas run. Either Oklahoma or Brownsville. I'm actually, intentionally using up on duty hours right now - instead of being off duty while waiting - to ensure they can't send me on a longer run. Why? Well obviously if they send me out on a run Christmas Day I'm not getting home in time to enjoy anything.  But, I don't want a long trip.  Stryker kind of irritated me having to wait up there 24 hours before finally being offloaded.  

Anyway, driving back by the property on the way home yesterday, there it was....in all of it's creosote covered glory.  A giant telephone pole with a huge transformer on top, lines running off of it, down through conduit, into the ground and over to a large, above-ground meter box.  Lock on the box, I wanted to see this meter. Probably one of those types they can read from a control room somewhere.  It's not one of the smaller poles they typically have up in rural areas and definitely taller and larger diameter - so it appeared on the diameter part anyway - than the rest of the poles. I had to assume it is to hold the extra weight of that transformer up there.  

It was encouraging to see that thing up, finally.  I just need a day or two more off to get trees marked and I'm ready for the land clearing.  A note to those that were asking.  I originally wanted to clear the land myself. But, it's 7 plus acres in front and the trees are very difficult to get out of the ground with those weird root systems they grow.  Cutting them with a chainsaw wasn't going to work, even with a stump grinder, certain of the trees - the gumball trees - would have just started growing back. 

I definitely can't have that.  I can't rent a track hoe - they rent them but only to construction companies with qualified operators and presumably with commercial liability insurance.  I was left with the only choice to get some bids and take the lowest bidder - but still having good reviews.  I rely on reviews to help me make decisions about using a company or not. Just the same, people rely on reviews to decide what RV parks they are going to stay in.  

There will be clean up after tho.  Leaves, junk on the ground, that's all going to be done by hand and finding whosoever to help me out with that. That's a ways down the road, however.  I won't even bother to start that until all of the utilities are installed and the rest is just construction to limited areas.  I will be getting bids on construction of a bath house soon.  And getting a fencing company out there to install a 4 foot chain link fence for a dog park.  I'm still considering the pool...would have to get financed for it as they have specific loans for swimming pools. It's definitely in my thought process. 

But there is so much more to do.  A sign out front.  A business office.  Laundry room with 2 washers and 2 dryers.  A wifi system, getting the internet company to run a line to the property, etc etc etc.  It's a lot to do, but it can only be done in the order that it can be done in. I can't jump to certain things right now until I have the utilities in.  I'm thinking of having gas run to the property to heat the bath house, heat the water for laundry and bath house showers and potentially a water heater for a pool. Gas is cheaper and more efficient.  Gas heaters are a lot more expensive but I think the tradeoff is a good one. 

 I also want to run cable for cable tv.  Too many people complain about parks that don't have it.  I dunno, folks, I'm not trying to please the whole world but it would be dumb to start a new park up without all the current day amenities offered.  I was still surprised to find out on some of the larger motor coaches, they use both the 30 amp and the 50 amp outlets to power their rigs.  That's a lot of electricity and I will have to charge accordingly. I think those class A motor coaches are going to have to pay a few dollars more to offset the electricity usage.  

And I still haven't started an LLC and then a commercial bank account.  As I said, there's a lot to do.  I need to visit with an accountant and find out what I can deduct as business expenses and how to keep the books. I have no plans to do book keeping myself - that is definitely not my forte. Taylor will do that but I want the setup done by a professional to ensure I get maximum deductions.  This is why I don't expect to be able to start up until probably summer.  Or later, who knows.  The sooner the better, yes, but I need to keep my expectations realistic.  I don't even know if I can get a company in to build a bath house any time soon. There is a lot up in the air right now, but I'll work it out one step at a time.

Anyway, after seeing the pole and taking a few pics for my facebook, I headed home.  We left a while later to go to Piney Park - a newly opened park that has walking trails, some huge slides, bouncing thing that is filled up with air - it's kind of like a trampoline. A lot of Christmas lights, Santa Clause, food of course, etc.  

It was fun, but I don't really think it was worth the entry price.  They need to add more to do to make it worth that much money.  It's basically just a glorified walking trail with a lot of Christmas lights and some props plus a few activities for kids. Other than that - they really need to do more work on the place. 

Whatever the case, it was home and then straight to bed for me.  I had already driven 465 miles that day on top of all of that.  And now, should be getting close to the end of loading the trailer, I can get out of here and get on up to Tulsa area.  I have no intentions of getting back today, that would give me a 34 hour reset before Christmas and ruin my hope to be home.  It may not happen anyway, but with full hours, I might very well get sent out somewhere far away.  Without a reset, they simply can't do that.  

It's my way of guaranteeing a day and 3/4's off when I need it.  And right now, I need it. I have to finish marking the trees I want to keep!  I would regret it very much later on down the line if I didn't finish that project in time for the land clearing.  So, even if they send me on yet another trip after this one before doing a reset, they will have no choice but to let me off after that.  

Time is up. Gotta get rollin'!

 Near Stryker, Ohio.  

I arrived much earlier than I have ever made it up here - but that's due to the early load time I had yesterday. So it was before noon eastern time I called them and asked if they could unload me today.

Of course not, lol.  "Our tank still has product in it" and "no one will be here that early to unload it".  Well, I could show up and have them off load it at whatever time they wanted...but I'd have no time to get anywhere after that.  I decided to stay at a hotel down the road and enjoy some time out of the truck.  

Rooms are pricey here, don't know why.  Small town out in the middle of nowhere, the Holiday Inn across the way has very few vehicles parked there. I asked for a trucker's discount. Some places do give that. No, no trucker's discount. Well, everything I saw on the website says $76 per night, not $95. We're talking a Super 8 hotel, this is nothing fancy but I've stayed here before.  

I'm here, lol. Went to Buffalo Wild Wings and had some lunch, came back and just resting.  

The appraiser was at the house today.  Mark said he was there 20 minutes and left.  20 minutes? for $500?!! Okkkkkk The appraiser allegedly said "I'm impressed".  Well, I dunno if he was just saying stuff, but Mark keeps the place immaculately clean.  I could show up out of the blue and the entire premises would be completely clean, nothing out of place inside or outside.  

Whether that "being impressed" translates into a good and high number remains to be seen.  I hope this person does their due diligence to seek out real comps, not just going by whatever has sold in the neighborhood.  It's worth double and then some whatever is selling in the neighborhood, save the site built houses.  The only one of those that has sold recently has an error on the selling price - over a million dollars. No one in their right mind is going to pay a million bucks for a house like that.  I'm keeping an eye on it to see if/when they are going to fix the mistake. But, I remain hopeful - and I hope that this thing can close if it's good and get over there before any vaccine mandates are required for domestic airline travel.

I will not be getting that vaccine.  I have gone into that many times in this blog, not going to scratch that surface again.  I'm just not going to subject myself to something that mau have serious side effects to my system.  Period. 

Anyway, I'm 2 days from home.  Offload early morning, get on the road, drive out my hours.  Finish on ... Wednesday.  I'm hoping to get another short run that will keep me out til the day before Christmas and then, walaah. Home for Christmas!  Yea, well one can hope, I didn't ask for it off and I did get Thanksgiving off, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  

Many states are embracing the $15 per hour minimum wage.  Good for them. That amount of income will be as worthless as the $7.25 fed wage is now in a short period of time. Inflation is already devaluing the dollar - feds have been pumping trillions of dollars of cash into the system. The dollar isn't worthless, but it's value is shrinking.  Buying power shrinks with it. 

If you increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour, the price of everything will go up so that that $15 per hour will become default the same as the federal minimum wage that already exists.  Period.  Inflation.  Then I'm going to want even more money - as well as all of my fellow truckers. Because we can.  I'm not saying 90k per year is a pittance, but if those people that are doing unskilled labor can make that much, then I want that much more.  Everyone in every industry that had to have some kind of skill or head knowledge will be saying the same thing. Guaranteed.  

If I'm going to spend days at a time away from home - and many truckers spend weeks at a time - y'all going to pay for it if these people doing menial labor tasks are going to get paid that much money.  See how that works?  It is not in anyone's best interests to raise the minimum wage, in fact, I don't even believe in minimum wages at all.  But I don't feel like getting into that subject. 

What I feel like doing? Is getting into bed, even tho a tad bit early, and going to sleep.  I already did earlier for an hour or so, felt good, I think I'll do more. I'm getting up at 5 am anyway.  In fact, it's an hour ahead of the clocks I have going, later than I thought.

G'nite. 

 Saturday morning. Thunderstorms and lots of rain, a nice day to stay home.  Well which I am, lol, I'm not on the road today. I got back from Oklahoma yesterday, was headed home when Taylor redirected me to Chili's. After that I took the dogs to the property for a nice long walk.  Last night, we wen to Wonderland of Lights - the town dresses up this city's version of down town, especially the old courthouse - with a lot of Christmas lights.  There were train rides, carousel, ice skating, face painting, etc.  We spent a few hours there (at least), went out to dinner and that was that.

However.  Yesterday.  Long time readers will remember that there is a certain plant - actually a certain company that runs thousands of plants nationwide- that I have been banned from. I won't be saying it here, don't want to draw attention to myself.  I got a text from the dispatch manager yesterday with the work sheet to go to the plant in Stryker, Ohio.  I haven't been up there in - 2 years? - or so - because of this permanent ban.  I haven't unloaded a trailer anywhere since I was banned as well.  I don't want to go into the reason I was banned, it would just take too long to tell that story and I don't feel like it.  I have never regretted getting banned from that place where I was at that day, I just didn't know at the time that this huge corporation was running the chemical portion of the plant. 

Their name was nowhere to be found in that plant so it just never crossed my mind.  But again, no regrets. I have been doing easy runs ever since.  Now, that doesn't mean they are all gravy runs, I just said easy. When you don't have to unload? Yup, that's an easy run.  

I immediately texted back that I can't go to that plant because of that ban.  She said, yup, I know, I texted the manager right back. Apparently, I am the only one "qualified" to go tomorrow.  Meaning, capable of unloading trailers. We have a slew of new people that apparently aren't trained in offloading.  The manager said yup, send him, he's the only one available.  

Let me just say here that I don't like this run.  It's usually 4 days because when you get up there? They won't unload you thee second day, they make you wait until the third morning. And then, they come banging on your door at 5:45 am to get it done lol. Well at least you get an early start.  It's just that it should be a 3 day trip that is dragged out to 4. The last I heard, we were getting detention pay for having to wait. But that was a long time ago.  If I get up there Monday and they can't unload me (it's can't, not won't, they order ahead, before their tank is empty, their tank has to be completely empty before we can offload and that usually isn't the case on the second day), I will text my manager and find out what's up with the wait time.  I've been known to drive to a nearby town and spend the day and night in a hotel, get up early and get it done.

The only drawback to that is losing drive time going to the plant and on duty time that next morning. It's better to just sit outside the plant and wait that entire afternoon and overnight for that purpose alone. Then, after you offload, you have full drive hours to get back - probably somewhere near Little Rock if I hustle - and leave maybe 3-1/2 to 4 hours left for the 4th day.  I have this all down.  The first day, I try to make it to Farina, Illinois. It's close to 700 miles.  The second day, I drive up to the plant and if I do happen to get offloaded, I drive ack to Farina. It takes all day to do that and then, if I really hustle, I'll get back to the yard the third day. 

Anyway, I'll be interested to find out if the senior manager that banned me knows about me going up there. This plant rejected me from taking a load sometime last year up there because my name is on a "list" lol.  If they know about it there is nothing to worry about. If they don't know about it....well, they don't ask names when we go up there, so unless they remember me I will probably get away with it. I can't imagine my manager sending me all the way up there without them knowing tho. If they say no, you can't come into the plant, then what?  Drive the load all the way back to Texas? Redirect to another plant?  Who knows. 

Today? Well it's supposed to rain into the afternoon. I'm just going to continue on the closet cleaning project - I left it a week ago and got busy with work. Maybe I can get the rest of the stuff out of there, scrub it with bleach and then, there will still be the base board I need to replace before putting my stuff back in there.  It's been nice tho. I've thrown a lot of stuff I don't need in the trash.  Too much "stuff".  

As for the appraisal.  Well, I got a call from a 480 area code- that's Phoenix metro area - and I almost never answer them. They always way they want to buy my house. I now tell them I want a million dollars for it - the number of those calls coming in has shrunk dramatically lol.  Anyway, it was an appraiser! The lender didn't inform me they had found one, so it was a bit of a surprise. Are you available on Monday for us to come out and do the appraisal?  Yes, I probably won't be home but someone will be there to let you in, there are no dogs so your personnel will be safe, thank you.  

What time is good for you? 7am or noon? Noon, I thought, I don't want to subject Mark to a time frame that he may not be home for, he's an early riser and does stuff in the mornings.  I let him know a few weeks ago that one would be coming out - but - assuring him I'm not selling the house, it's a refinance.  It will doom that house as far as my owning it goes, I'll have sucked all the money out of it and the mortgage will start all over again. I mean, I'm not throwing them out, I'll continue on with them living there in the setup that has gone on for 7 years now.  I mean, 5 years down the road there will be some equity back in it?  Mark replied to my text informing him they are coming Monday at noon in the affirmative. 

I also informed the appraiser that there aren't any comps in the entire neighborhood. Mine is a manufactured home, yes, but the rest of the mobiles in that entire neighborhood are far older than mine and the other housing in there is site built homes.  Oh, I'll let them know that. Thank you and the call was ended.

I dunno what's going to happen with that. Kind of biting my fingernails type of thing.  Zillow has it showing at 279k.  Even with 10% margin of error, it would still be worth 250k, which is what the lender went off of in telling me I would be approved for 90k cash out.  But is that house really worth that much money? In this market? Yes. Whether the appraisal comes out at that or not, I would list it at 300k and come down to 250k - after that any potential buyers can go find some other house to lowball owners on.  The house does need some minor appearance work - probably a couple thousand worth, which I have been considering having done.  And it's probably due for a paint job. I dunno, but I have money available in case stuff goes bad. The AC system is getting old, tho the AC repair guy that lives behind us has done a nice job fixing things that break on it. 

The house still has lots of plants - tho Mark is not a green thumb and he let my evergreen die.  I had told him that it needs to be watered every day in the summer. He said "everything is dying" and I don't know why. Well I figured it out pretty fast once I found out he's not watering daily.  It's Arizona, it gets very hot and it rarely rains there.  If you want green plants, you have to water them.  I got on his case about that.  He was saying "everything in the neighborhood is dying". Yes, because the price of water has gone up so high, people probably aren't watering their plants.  Arizona has been in a severe drought for years, just like California.  The only difference is Arizona has water conservation districts they set up decades ago to manage the water supply.  

Arizona - at least the Phoenix area - is fairly well doomed tho if the rain and winter snow doesn't start picking up.  They can't just keep building out in all directions, there simply isn't enough water to go around.  I'm surprised they haven't done as Cali has and limited watering and grass and even dictating days you can water or even wash your car.  AZ also has the advantage that they started building reclaimed water - sewage water that is treated, not potable but usable for landscaping, gold courses and also cools the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant - they run a huge diameter line from Phoenix area out to that plant so they wouldn't have to use drinking water to cool it.  

California is way behind in both of those aspects. Cali would rather just dictate to citizens what they can and cannot do instead of actually trying to figure out answers to these problems. They have a vast supply of water on their coast line, it's amazing to me that someone hasn't invented a system to remove salt from water without having to use heat to do it. That's the drawback, it takes too much resources in the current method they have to remove it.  I believe someday sooner or later someone is going to come out with that invention and that will change everything. No more water wars on the Colorado river, Arizona can draw much more water from it, Cali won't need it.  

Well that's it.  My power pole - still ain't up.  I really don't need it up just yet, it's going to start costing me $150 per month once they do put it up, but I'm glad I ordered it when I did, I have no idea how much longer its' going to be.  I've got the engineer's number, no need calling him until I get close to needing it.  The land clearing is slated for some time next month. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on that, I figure to have that done before the end of this month.  I was going to go out there today - but the rain said something different lol.  I had to look up whether I can get 220 volt out of only one power line. There are only 2 lines coming through there, one has the power running through it at 7,200 volts and the other is a neutral line - or ground - depending on who you ask.  

Apparently you can get 220 out of it.  I don't need 220 for the RV sites, they are all 110 stuff. But I want 220 for dryers, AC, pool heater, etc.  Of course, one could work around it by using natural gas water heater and dryer. I assume you could find a natural gas heater for the pool as well, probably more efficient. 

I'll let the electricians play that game, I really wanted to run my own lines but I have decided against it.  I have no clue how it works off of only one power line.  They seem to think it will be perfectly okay, all I can say is I will be watching, taking notes and taking pictures of the installation process.  Come time to upgrade the park with more sites? Now there, I might just go ahead and do the wiring myself if I have enough confidence after watching them doing it to do it myself.  Maybe.  I was talking with people online that are in the business of building RV parks - they said the septic quote was way low?  Ohhh?  I only have 14 lots to start with.

Yes but it's still low and so is the electricity. One person said it was costing them 400k to install just the electric for 50 lots What? I think that person is getting ripped off, but what do I know.  Others said all of the quotes are well within reason and are actually low. That made me feel better because I am not hearing back from the other electrician and tho he said he wants the job - he certainly isn't acting like it.  I gasped at the 26k quote for electricity is all I can tell ya.  It really took me by surprise. 

Well, I think that's enough. I'm feeling pretty lazy. Rainy days do that to me.  Keeping the hope alive.  Now that I have the land clearing set for next month - no day given yet for their arrival - it will force me to finish measuring out the lots and ribboning the remaining trees.  I've still got a couple of days of work left out there, I'm assessing. And a bit of undecidedness on some areas where I can't decide what to leave up and what to take down.  I think I can just leave stuff up and if I need it down, well, it can be a future project.  

With that, I bid you a good day.

 I've made 2 trips now with that new, inward facing camera - with microphone - covered up with duct tape.  No one has said anything to me about it - yet - and I was speaking to my manager about something else that was bothering me today.

THAT situation were the endless phone calls I have made to corporate trying to get them to send me a copy of my 2019 W2.  In total, I made 57 phone calls over a few days span.  Not one single time did the corporate front desk answer, the HR department or the payroll department. This has been going on for a week and the lender was really grinding my balls about getting it.

So, today, I just started leaving message, after message - after message.........after message - to the payroll department since they refuse to ever answer their phone.  I then contacted my manager and told him I still do not have the W-2.  I then suggested and asked if it would be a good idea to contact the vice president of the company? Her email was listed and open to receiving questions.

That got an almost immediate reply: NO.  Lmao, I knew that wouldn't go over so well but he start sending them emails and they responded to him almost immediately as well. I finally got the W2 sent to me by the manager of payroll - I now have her email.  Anyway, that W2 has been sent to the lender, who sent more forms that they want me to print out and send back to them.

Gag.  Forms filled out, signed and sent. The biggest issue is getting info from my mortgage company, they can feel free to get whatever they need from them, I don't have the time to keep sending them the info they ask for and then they say, no, that's not what we want....the land lender wanted the same form filled out, direct communication, leave me out of it, there is nothing my current mortgage company has in terms of info on me that I would want censored from this lender.  

Anyway, I've made no mention of that camera situation to my manager and he's said zero, squelch, nada to me about it, it would be nice if it could stay that way.  

________________

Well the above was a few days ago.  I had  a weird dream.  I was in the truck, it was loaded with Ethylene.  I was driving down a road that came up to a building, the road went under the building. So, I drove down this 45 degree angle to the bottom and then tried to drive up the other side.  The truck wouldn't make it up and started sliding backwards.  I found myself backed into a room at the bottom and the trailer started leaking the chemical.  It was coming out in a small stream.  A man came up to me and told me I couldn't park there so I somehow got the truck up and out of that place.  The next thing I know, I'm driving up to a flood zone. There was an alligator that started chasing the truck, I wasn't worried about it but it was interesting to watch.  And then, the road ended at a street that was completely submerged in water.  I could tell by a stop sign a block away that it was at least 5 feet deep but I for some reason decided to drive through it anyway.  The entire truck slowly rolled over and disappeared under the water, which was also strange because the water wasn't that deep.  I got out of the truck, went over to dry land and then this man walked up to me with an apparatus that had 3 pipes attached together.  Is that the inside of the trailer? Yes, he said.  Oh, so it all leaked out? Yes.  The man was Titus, a person I haven't seen or heard from in at around 30 years.  Another driver came up and started laughing at me that I would have to go find a new job.......

I don't normally remember my dreams but this one was so odd, it didn't go away.  I did drive down a hill at a 45 degree angle once.  Coming back out a few weeks later - the truck and trailer were to be parked down there for a tent crusade,, it took me several times to get it out of there.  I ended up going around 50mph at the bottom of the hill and going up it to finally make it to the top.  I also worked with that kind of pipe for 12 years. The truck represented the current job. Titus - he was a young man in his 20's I think last time I saw him in the .....90's...... went to a church I used to go to.  I don't have any great meaning out of this dream, but it was so odd that so many things were in it that have been a part of my life at one time or another.

Whatever the case, the telephone pole is still not installed and they can't find an appraiser yet.  They said after the new year, probably.  Oh? I thought you said my rate was only locked in until the 23rd?  Oh don't worry I have that rate as long as this loan is active.  Ok.  I don't really want to wait that long to find out what they think the house is worth, but I have no connections to appraisers in Arizona lol.  I have been working so I haven't had time to get back to the property and try to finish the tree ribbon job.  I just got back from Brownsville today and will be heading to Oklahoma tomorrow.  I suppose I will have time on Friday to get out there and maybe Saturday since I will likely need a 34 hour reset. 

I'll need to check my hours available tomorrow. If the Oklahoma run will eat up enough hours, then I will definitely make it an overnight run so I will have most of Friday and all of Saturday off.  I need the work but I also need to get this ribbon stuff done and over with. I can probably get it done in 2 days worth of work.  I think.  Just want to get the land clearing on the dude's book for a date.  Not til next month, that's for sure, it's already the 15th and Christmas and New year's coming up, I figure mid January.  

By then I will know whether I am getting the loan. Well, by then I should either have the loan and the cash or the deal is called off - it really all depends on the appraisal.  Zillow has it showing at 279k.  Whether it's worth that much, who knows. It's showing a house that a man built years ago at over 400k and that sounds pretty high. 

Well I'm tired and don't really feel like going into anything else.

G'nite

 Spent a good part of yesterday traipsing around the property putting pink ribbons on trees I want to save.  I have a lot left to go, but I did the entire 1,351 feet of driveway, down around the back side and coming back towards the street on the other side. I got tired of getting pricked by thorns and left after I had been there quite awhile and decided I had accomplished enough for one days' worth of pain and blood.  

Okay, the pain isn't that bad lol, it goes away after a while but it is recurring, no matter how hard you try to get around those thorns, they are everywhere and there is no avoiding them completely.  I'm going to get assurances that the dozer they bring will include blading the entire property around the trees and getting that s*** up off the ground, those thorn vines just grow directly out of the ground and up trees, shrubs, bushes or just - grow up. 

That stuff has got to go and I want a guarantee on that. It's 12 grand, I want my money's worth out of it. 

With all of that junk in there, that property is absolutely useless.  

The cash out loan plods on.  More info they want and the appraisal was rejected by the company doing the appraisal, they wanted near $700 after being offered $550.  That's crazy. My land cost $350, I think, nothing even close to that?  It'll be more work, tho, the house, in trying to find comps.  Whatever the case, the lender is going to try to find another company to do it.  

I don't want to spend $700 on a loan I might not even get....

Did I say I despise going through this process? having had been through it already not that long ago? Oh, yes I have probably said that a dozen times on this blog lmao.

I'm still trying to get corporate to send me the W2 from 2019.  I'm going to go through everything yet again, I know I didn't throw it away, I just can't find it anywhere. I have no clue what I did with all of that. Probably hid away in a safe place .... so safe I can't even find or remember where I put it!

It might actually be out in my SUV, a place I haven't checked yet and a thought that popped into my mind.  I was using all of that stuff for the last loan, but I thought I was using it in here, in the house, I had no use for out there.

Another thought that crossed my mind is that I will very likely have to travel to Phoenix to sign off on everything if this loan goes through.  I know they are requiring masks on airplanes, I don't think they have started requiring vax for domestic flights yet..I hope not because I will reluctantly make the journey over there to close if I must. Excepting this time, I'm leaving from the airport in Longview, I'm not driving clear to Dallas or Fort Worth unless the savings are that substantial. 

But there is free parking at the local muni airport and it's 35 miles away versus 157 to Love field and paying exorbitant prices for daily parking.  The money spent may be the money - and aggravation of dealing with that entire area - saved.  For that much money I will definitely fly to Arizona, but it will be a fly in and fly out, try to do it all in the same day type of thing. No visiting anyone.  

I've been sick a lot this year and I am not taking the chance of giving my mother some kind of illness that potentially could be signing her death sentence. No thanks.  Covid has changed everything, literally, in the way we see and think about things such as travel. Tho, we don't observe any notions of in house masks and no one here is getting vaccinated and we will have over whoever wants to come over.  We only give out warnings if someone is sick.  Then the person or people visiting have the option to make up their own mind about whether they want to come or not. At the moment, everyone is healthy and we'd all like to stay that way for a while.....

And so it is, it rained last night so the property is probably muddy.  A funny thing tho, after I bladed portions of the intended RV park, grass started growing. I mean, all over the freshly bladed areas. there was no grass there before and I certainly didn't plant any seeds. It's like seeds fell from the heavens to make the earth green!  Yes, I know bird droppings can do that, but that much in such a short period of time?  I dunno, maybe.

Regardless of the mud and the fact that it's chilled right on down since yesterday - it was in the high 70's and today it's looking to be a high of 50 degrees - I'm going over there for at least a few hours and continue on with this nonsense.  Yes, getting cuts all over my arm and neck and junk going down the back of my shirt is nonsense, IMO, necessary nonsense, yes, but nonsense never-the-less.

What am I waiting for? Uhh, just a dose of motivation, lol. I'm only doing a couple of hours worth and it's only 9:39 am, so yeah, I have plenty of time.  I will pick it back up after this Brownsville trip - we are getting at least a day off atm after every trip.  I don't really want a day off after every single trip, but everything slows down this time of year and we have lost a lot of business to other tanker companies entering into the division to haul what we once had a monopoly on. Blame the company that took over our company for that, they didn't heed existing management's warnings, didn't get enough equipment - namely new trailers - to cover everything and walaah. 3 different companies came in and took a chunk of our work away from us.  I've still made quite a bit of money this year, I can't really complain too much. 

So losing this job over a camera? Well, sorry Charlie, that thing is going to be covered with tape on every single trip until they attempt to call me out on it and then, it will likely result in parting ways.  It's amazing how many people just accept it as "normal" and just give up their personal privacy in the name of - what exactly? Safety?  How does a camera facing inward increase safety? How does a microphone listening in on your conversations increase safety? Just too creepy for me, I can't deal with that s***,.

Get the park up and running, that's what i need to do. Get something going and get headed towards the ultimate goal of not having to work for anyone. But with the park running even at a small capacity, I can find a local job and supplement my income with a 5 day per week, weekends off job that has me home every night. I won't need to make the money I'm making now to be able to afford to live my current, lavish lifestyle.

Lmao.  I don't lead a lavish lifestyle, lolol. I have a 10 year old vehicle, I live in a rented room. I have some debt but nothing too great and - if I get this loan - I'm paying all of that off.  Reduce my expenditures to next-to-nothing and then I can lose the job altogether and not even replace it with another one and probably still be able to live solely off of RV park revenues. 

I've done the math. At 80% occupancy per month, deducting 30% in expenses, I will have $7,056 left over to pay myself with - and save for further expansion.  I could easily live off of that.  Especially after paying off debt. And after a year I can apply for a business loan, showing my net income and not have to project anything at all, it will all be based on immediate history.  More than double the size of the park and walaah.  A very decent income even after taxes.  Give my friends full time jobs if they want them - and yes they have good work ethic - and make it a family style venture that hopefully will continue to expand in scope and size for years to come.

And, I still haven't ruled out buying much smaller properties, loading them up with mobile homes and renting them out.  I'm hoping and praying this cashout will go through, this will finance everything else I need - excepting more lots, it won't do that - and I will have the structure set up for a very nice park with all the amenities that people will hopefully rave about in reviews and direct traffic my way.  That coupled with the website designer helping me get the word out - he's very knowledgeable and very reasonable rates - it shouldn't be too terribly hopeful in assessing a successful business even charging the same rates everyone else is doing in this region but giving much more amenities.  

Well, after a morning full of kids crying and temper tantrums, meltdowns I am off to a much more peaceful and serene environment.

 The man promised me that the list he initially sent me was all he would need. \

This being for the refi/cashout to help finance my RV park project.

But, of course, just as the land deal, I was getting endless requests for far more than this initial list of things, which was pretty small.

He should have just been upfront with me about it. I would either agree to all this nonsense or I - wouldn't.  And right now? I'm not in the mood for going through all of this yet again with no guarantees that I'll even get anything out of it.  Yes, I have been approved, but that can always change, we all know this.

And the appraisal - if that doesn't come out good, then it's all off anyway. I'd just rather wait until the appraisal is done, see what they say and move forward - or stop - with those results. 

So I mentioned this to the this agent a few days ago. 

He had a literal cow.  It came out mooing, looking for hay.  I won't even go into all of it, I was instantly ready to say goodbye, have a nice life, don't call me because honey, I won't be calling you.  It was unbelievable the tirade this man went into.  I was appalled, astounded and amazed all at the same time.  

His threats to end the deal were laughable.  I was highly amused at that, as if he had some sort of leverage on me, lmao.  I let him stew for a day on it without responding after I had had enough.  He went off again.  My replies? Wow.  And then Wow again.  That was it.  And then I let him think about his behavior for a while, this dude isn't doing me any favors and they are certainly taking their chunk of change out of this deal if it goes through, please spare me.

I let him know after the threat that I am not desperate for money, it would be a tool that I can use for the purposes that I intend to use it for, but in now way, shape or form do I absolutely have to have this money. I will not lose my dignity and have to think that I am begging some dude that works for a giant company to bail me out. I don't need bailed out of anything.  If it comes down to my current supply of money not being enough? The project can go on hold.  

He took a completely different tune today. He is not the captain of this ship, I am the client, the consumer, I am what he is in business for. It is a service industry. I had half a mind to contact his corporate offices and let them know how he is treating their customers, but I decided against it. See if he would change his tune.  Plus, this dude literally has all of my personal information.  He could trash my life - at least temporarily until a lawsuit would be filed - engaging in cancel culture and using my ss and dl numbers to open up accounts, etc. You never know what people are capable of.  In this day and age, I count nothing out.  

So, I am just going to go with this until it either pans out - or - this dude just goes too far with it. Sort of what my company is doing with this microphone and inward facing camera nonsense.  Crossing lines.  The microphone is muted and the camera has a piece of duct tape on it....I'll let y'all know what becomes of that.  As for now, there are 3 sun visors that fold down from the ceiling of the cab. The center one is not wide at all, maybe 8 inches and they placed that camera right where the center of that sun visor comes down. I don't really need tape, just put the visor down and it's blocked.  So that visor is - permanently down lol. 

Anyway, I barely made it to the receiving plant near Tulsa with the time left on my 14 hour clock.  I got the loaded trailer dropped and then came out into their parking lot to spend the night, get up early enough to get an empty after 10 hours and head back  That will be 5:30 am, a bit early but nothing like this morning getting up at 3:30 am.  I'm so tired yet I am not in the "sleepy" phase yet, hopefully that will hit soon.

What's in the news? Good Lord, what isn't in the news. Rumors of war with Russia, China flying military planes over Taiwan and wanting a presence in the Atlantic with a base, Biden's edicts being put down one after another with vaccine mandates, border chaos continuing on, progressives being snubbed by more moderate democrats, Supreme court justices being threatened if they overturn Roe v Wade ...what a hellish nightmare this nation has engaged in the ruthless slaughtering of innocent babies.  I'm going to stop there, there is still a slew of other things I didn't mention. But this abortion subject has vexed my soul for decades now.  I know lots of people - people I call friends - that think abortion is nothing different than going to the local gas station to get a drink. 

I'm stopping. It's getting late - well it's not that late but I didn't sleep well last night and I'm very tired.  It's actually only 9:00 pm, which is early for some, late for others, in between for me.  I have 3 more days of Facebook suspension and then I'll have to make a decision.  I just give my opinions on things but Facebook calls it hate speech or bullying.  I'm sick of Facebook, for that reason.  It's not that I'm engaging in any real form of bullying or hate speech, lol, it's that Facebook wants people to conform to THEIR way of thinking.  That's all it really is. If I stay on my own page and don't comment anywhere else, maybe  I could stay out of their crosshairs.  But I have liberal friends on there - well not so much friends after the Trump years and the left still bashing Trump supporters.  But you get my drift - I have had them reporting me for comments I have made on my own page. 

It's so easy to just block a person you don't like, unfriend them, do anything but whine like a little child and act like a petulant teenager and report people because you don't like their opinions. 

I won't be back home tomorrow until much later than I anticipated because of 6 plus hours of breakdown time today. So I won't be getting over to the property to do more measuring.  But, Brownsville has been down for 11 days and I suspect after hearing what other drivers were saying today that I won't have any work for at least a couple of days after this run. I'll have time to get out there, I think. Many times I say stuff like this and then I'm given a run somewhere or a paying task to do, such as traipsing around the country doing chores for the company, lmao.  No calls for LNG delivery on the east coast - yet.  It isn't really that cold yet, it's when those blizzards hit over there and the temps drop below zero is when they amp it up and call for help outside of their regions. 

BTW, I am not getting vaccinated. I don't care if it means I never fly again.  Well, I do care but I have spelled out the legitimate, valid reasons on this blog several times now why I will not get vaccinated and it has nothing to do with being "anti-vax".  AT ALL.  

I am probably going to need to fly to Arizona to sign papers if this deal goes through on the refi cashout.  It will take too long to drive there just to do that. Fly in, fly out, same day if possible.  Not see anyone? I can't see my mother, tho I think that could be arranged by simply inviting her to visit at a restaurant - outdoors if need be - and getting tested before I see her?  I dunno. See my son at least.  I'm saying all of this because there are hintings that the Biden fiasco is hinting at domestic flights requiring passengers to be vaccinated as well.  If I have to drive there, so beit, I'm not getting vaccinated. Get it?

Y'all have a good evening.

 Tire repair guys are never in a big hurry.

The day started at 3:30 am.  Did my normal thing at the house in getting up, got out of there, got to the yard.  Sure enough, I saw that new camera gleaming in the darkness.  Whatever.  I'm already looking for new jobs.  

Anyway, I get in the truck, fire it up, put a piece of duct tape over the inward facing camera and the microphone, go to turn on the headlights and running lights - nothing.  

Wut.

They were working just fine when I parked it, I assumed instantly that the dude that installed this garbage did something to the wiring.  An hour later and very late to the plant, attempting to use 4 different trucks, I was at the loading plant and there was already another truck who snuck ahead. They had been there allegedly since 4:30 am - flow rate was allegedly "off" and that's why it took them so long.  

I didn't believe the operator, but it's whatever.  20 minutes later and over an hour past my official load starting time, he got my truck hooked up.

Back to the yard, drop the trailer, hook with my truck. They found the problem: the dude didn't reattach the electrical connector to the headlight switch.  Go figure. 

Already well down in hours, I still had a chance to at least get up to the plant near Tulsa, drop and hook and then come back to the truck stop casino.  

Fast forward 80 miles and on highway 271 in Texas near Talco, and a loud kablaaaaam!!!! I looked in the rear view - tire literally blew up.  Pulled over, got the flashers on, got out to look. A few minutes later fire trucks showed up. Huh?

They pulled in behind me. "we had a report of an explosion" referencing a caller that thought an actual bomb had gone off, lmao.  Uhh, no, just that tire. It did blow up tho!  They all laughed and the clear leader of the group asked what I was hauling?  I named the chemical and he was like, well, if you see this driver running, best run too!!  

The tire was literally destroyed, it was absolutely amazing that no other damage beyond a damaged rim occurred.  Well, anyway, I"ve been sitting here near 3-1/2 hours. I decided to get out the laptop, that would get the dude here, I thought.  It happens a lot - you pull out the computer and walaah, the repair guy miraculously shows up. 

I am not even sure I'll make it up to the receiving plant today, much less make it any distance back. 

I did find a large number of local jobs that I might be interested in. They will mean pay cuts, but if I am forced out, there are options at least.  One of them is fuel hauling to gas stations, local job and they have paid training.  All the benefits I currently have, about 15k less in pay, but I can deal with that if I have to.  

If I have to find a new job, I'm looking local first, that's what I'm saying.  Because I have no inclination to be bent over backwards with this outrageous idea that these people that employ me should be able to listen in to anything I'm saying at any time I'm in the truck or that they should be able to see anything I'm doing in the truck that I both drive AND live in.  That is beyond the line of things I will not tolerate from a company. 

As I have said numerous times before, this company doesn't care if you stay or go.  There is no job security here.

So that's that.  The auction yesterday? Really incredible. A hundred people showed up and a couple of guys with money bid everything WAY up.  I mean, it was amazing.  They even bid up an undivided property to 30 grand!  I'm betting they have no idea what undivided property means and that they don't actually own the land, you are co-owners with however many other people.  

They'll learn, as I did the hard way, tho I didn't spend anything even remotely close to that much money on it.  I lost something like $800.  

No, I didn't score any land, I won't pay those prices.  I won't take time off work again, either.  If I happen to be home when the auctions occur, I will go. It only takes a couple of minutes to figure out whether any of the deals listed will stay as deal or if they will be bid so far up as to go beyond even what retail prices under realtor listings are priced at.

Amazingly, this dude is already almost done! 

I'm offa here.

G'day

 Apparently the days of bargains for land at the tax lien auction are long gone. Today was not the first one I've been to where the bidding went well beyond anything that would even remotely resemble a deal of any kind.  Some of these people winning these bids are out of their ever-loving minds.

The worst one today was 8 acres  - of undivided land - going for 30 grand.  I made this mistake of undivided property as well, but I didn't spend hardly anything on it and my yearly property tax on it is now pegged at $57.  I'm afraid I'm stuck with it. I guess I could give it away? lol ....it's a nice piece of land but in my mind it's basically worthless. You don't own it, you own a portion of it, along with however many other people are on the deed.

I was surprised even the rich dude who shows up and bids everything up wasn't hardly bidding on anything. There were come newcomers there that were far outspending anyone and it was crazy.  Some day down the road I may just go ahead and bid up to get land, right now that money goes to my RV park. A couple of thousand I could have done - which I was expecting since this was the end of year sale where everything that was already put up for auction earlier in the year that didn't sell was up today.

Instead of waiting for the auctioneers to switch from listed price to - whatever anyone will bid price - these people went straight to not only bidding the listed price but going WAY up from there against each other.  

It'w whatever.  I'll go to future sales if I happen to be home - there is the possibility that all of these people will not show up at the regular auctions an perhaps a deal can be had.  But I'm not taking time off anymore for them. I didn't today, it was off time and I'm very glad I didn't bother to take time off.  

I didn't get over to the property today to try to get more of the lots measured out for tree purposes.  I got done with the auction, got a bite to eat, went to get my haircut and headed home.  The land will have to wait until after tomorrow's trip.  

I did make it a one day trip yesterday, but I won't have a 16 hour exception for tomorrow, unless the run goes perfectly it will be an overnighter.  I have yet another Oklahoma trip tomorrow and it's an early load at 6 am.  It's almost better to just go over there tonight and not have to fool with getting up way early tomorrow at 3:45 am  - at the latest - to get loaded and get on the road.  I'm half considering it, still early yet.  

____________

Sent a load for Oklahoma tomorrow.  6 am load time.  Not my favorite, it means getting up really early and I'm not typically able to get to sleep early enough to be well enough rested.  

Oh well.

G'day.

 Okay the last post was gross with the blood. Just was annoyed trying to take simple measurements and getting pricked by sharp thorns all over the place. 

Apparently the only other way to do this is to have a surveyor come out using expensive tools and maps to do it for you.  

I don't want to spend that much money. I got one side done, the other to go.  THEN I will have to try and determine which trees to keep up and the rest - which is most of them - to take down.  

Once it's all cleared out, measuring the actual lots will be easy.  Or should I say - should be easy.  

But clearing the land isn't going to be done until I get this done and I don't care how long it takes, it's too important to me.  I have my eyes on Thuga trees/plants whatever they are as well.  10 inch plants, gotta start somewhere. Hedges between lots.  

____________________

Monday morning. Had the weekend off.  Just another Oklahoma trip, but not bad coupled with the West Virginia trip.  The dispatcher is sick so the awesome dispatch manager is taking her place for a while.  Usually means I get better paychecks, to put it in a nutshell.  Oh oh, I just wrote that and she just texted us that she is now coming down sick as well.  Uhh, she gonna have to take time off, that's my advice to her. It will only get worse if it's anything like what I just had.  

Ahh, she's saying something is going on at the loading plant - probably scheduled maintenance.  I may be in for more time off than I want.  Sure enough, only one load per day going out starting tomorrow through Friday.  I'm guessing I"m going to have several days off after this run....

It will give me time to go out to the forest, get bloody with all of that nonsense in there and hopefully mark out the trees. I haven't even started marking anything yet - I can't until I finish with marking the lots and we're talking approximation markings here, nothing like what I will do once the forest is cleared out of there.

Anyway, the next "door" neighbor over there happened to show up yesterday, I called him over to the fence line, I was well back from the road, like around 700 feet in the thick of things.  Just discussed with him about the trees along the fence line and my intentions to take most of everything else down, including on "his" portion of "my" property.  He had no issues with that, we're leaving up the giant trees along the fence line, probably some smaller ones away from it since I can't use the land anyway and just have a natural look there of a tree stand the 1,351 feet of barbed wire fence that exists there.

He was asking me what I'm doing - I told him this time.  No use in attempting to keep secrets any longer, there isn't much any of them in the neighborhood can do at this point beyond perhaps making it difficult to get a permit to get septic installed. But, just as they have friends in high places, I do as well.  And that individual works with those higher ups, not just acquaintances.  And, the higher ups know what I'm going to do over there and they just said well, he has to get a permit for septic.  

Just saying all of that to say that eventually this would have come out anyways and there is already a private RV park - club thing - down the street and several other businesses, including this guy next door. He doesn't live there, he has a big building where he does car restorations. He isn't there much, at all, that was the first time I'd seen him in at least 5 weeks and I'm over there pretty frequently.  

And, when I told him that, he said "I'm sorry to hear that".  Not shocking, actually, but I did ask him why.  I'm afraid of theft.  Flatly spoken as if my intentions were to open up some slum s*** with a bunch  of drug addicts and slobs who have no more inclination in life than to take from others whenever the opportunity opens up.  

I explained to him that the operation wasn't going to be that kind of deal - AT ALL.  I am eyeballing baby boomers, my generation, people with money and expensive rigs. Or not even that expensive, just people that don't need to steal to survive. Further, I stated, the entire street is full of all kinds of businesses, including yours.  It was a bit offensive for him to assume I was opening up some s***hole that would just degrade the neighborhood and fill it full of undesireables.  

Whatever he's going to do with that info, I'm prepared for the worst, at least mentally and hoping for the best. Like, oh well, can't tell him what to do with his land.....but you know human nature. People don't like something and they try to bust things up. Hopefully this dude isn't like that, but word will spread.  Well, word has already spread so that's that.  It isn't going to disturb anyone living nearby excepting maybe the renters next door - the dude that parks his tractor-trailer rig on my driveway......there will be increased traffic on the road, but there are already RV's going up and down it and big trucks hauling salt water from various wells along the road.  

In all of this time, I have yet to see a single tanker truck going on my driveway.  If they go to the well and the giant tanks, there will be tracks left. That's good news, actually, that means they don't have to go in there that much with noisy trucks. Just pickups and I'm going to get a handle on that as well. Namely, speeding up and down that road.  There is a company imposed 10 mph speed limit on that driveway and I intend on making sure their employees start adhering to it.  

Time has gotten away from me, it's time to leave, lol.

G'day.

 

Somebody please tell me this is worth this much aggravation? I’ve only made it 300 feet. Have to wind the tape measure back up in reverse through all this nonsense and then start a fresh 300 feet…

2 cara in center median, toast. Pic of traffic waiting for investigation to end. 7+ mile backup, vehicles completely stopped. Accident long since over, must have been a fatality to have it shut down like that. That’s I-40 somewhere west of Nashville, this morning. 

Truck fire, it was burning pretty good. 

Random tree on the property. 

And yesterday’s sunset in the rear view mirror. 

Started early to beat Nashville rush hour and was pleased with the results. Should  be back at the yard today by 4:30. 

Sweetgum tree. Finally figured out what they’re actually called. They don’t really look that bad. I intend to try and leave up 2 per site. Later down the road I’ll plant pines near them. 

It’s Friday. I dunno when I’m going back out but hopefully not tomorrow. Just gonna have to cut brush out of the way if it comes to that to measure the lots. 

460 miles to go. 

G’day